DISILLUSION WITH ISLAM
In my quest for answers, I came upon a stark realization. I learned that 128 flourishing Muslim empires had vanished over the last several centuries.

My spiritual teachers, the Mullahs tried to pacify me, "To these Kaafirs, the world is a pastime. Their glamour, prosperity, rule and success are nothing but a deceitful mirage. Soon they will be thrown on their faces into the Hellfire. While on the other hand, Allah, the Rasool, the Angels, the Garden of Eden, the hooris (the heavenly beauties), and refreshing wines all are ours. We Muslims will enjoy the Eternal Life clad in silk and velvet in the well-carpeted, daisy-laden Gardens, embracing hooris in our tents and palaces drinking refreshing wines served by the dancing, whirling, handsome servants, watching the waterfalls and fresh water streams, hearing nightingales etc. etc. etc." I became increasingly uncertain.

If Allah was only the God of Muslims, why would He let the Kaafir Hulago Khan inherit the once glorious Abbasid Dynasty (in 1258 CE)? Why were the Muslims thrown out of their once golden rule in Spain (1492)? Why would the Mughal Empire of India capitulate to the trading British (1857)? Why were even our footprints erased from the soils of Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Serbia, Croatia, Ukraine, Greece and Bulgaria? Why were we evicted from France in utter disgrace? Tunis, Morocco, Palestine, Kashmir, Algiers, Libya became our graveyards. Why?

I had trouble understanding this hapless predicament of the Muslim world and decided to approach the highest Ulema to shed some light on this. I returned to obscurity. I was not satisfied with their answers because they did not make sense. I cannot say I returned empty handed, I had managed to acquire a handful of Fatwas of apostasy.
For nearly the next 7 years, any understanding of Islam had eluded me.

THE DUALITY WITHIN ISLAM
As a result, I became withdrawn from Islam and disinterested in reading even the Qur’an. Soon after, things started to change. One morning, on impulse, I opened my Qur’an. As if by Divine Inspiration, the verse before me read:

“Do they not see how many a generation We (Our Law) annihilated before them? We had established them on earth better than We have established you, and We showered on them abundant blessings from the sky, and caused the rivers to flow beneath them. But, when they trailed behind in humanity, We (Our Law) annihilated them and raised in their stead other generations.” (Qur’an, 6:6)

I had arrived at the answer. There was a glimmer of light after much darkness. I decided to step out of this darkness, to broaden my vision and free myself from blind following. I continued to read the Qur'an in its entirety and understand the True Message of Allah. I found it replete with motivation to action. Every deed has an exact recompense. I reexamined the ahadith in the Light of the Qur’an. It became clear that over time the opponents of Islam had contaminated the original Message. Even our very own spiritual leaders had toyed with the meaning of the Message of Allah and had falsely attributed words and actions to the Prophet (S). The Qur’an promises reward for those who make efforts to succeed in this world and the next. The mullas offered the convenient rituals and formulas to achieve results without any action on the part of the person. At this time, the Islamic spirit has been burdened by pointless rituals. So, while the kaafirs were living comfortably and attaining success in this life, most Muslims continued to drown in their worship and misery.

There were in reality, Two Islams, one in theory and one in practice. The Original Message of Allah remained a theory and a parallel Islam emerged centuries ago; one which bases itself on fabricated history and ahadith.